XENIA, Ohio - Washington State University men's basketball rising-sophomore Abe Lodwick and former student-athlete Robbie Cowgill will embark on a one-week competitive tour in Poland and Germany as a part of an Athletes In Action international tour this summer beginning this week.

A total of 11 NCAA Division I men's basketball players from around the United States are slated to take part in the tour, which is one of 12 AIA men's and women's basketball teams touring this summer. The other team members traveling with Cowgill (who will travel as a bible study leader and player) and Lodwick include; Dwight Thorne (Colorado), Cory Johnson (Valparaiso), Brandon Wood (Valparaiso), Koang Doluony (Indiana State), Dwayne Lathan (Indiana State); Marek Koltun (Lafayette), Quincy Acy (Baylor), EJ Kusnyer (Mercer) and Hurbert Radke (Loyola). Indiana State head coach Kevin McKenna will serve as the team's coach and Illinois head coach Bruce Weber will travel with the team to conduct coaching clinics.

The team will depart May 18 and begin a training camp in Katowice, Poland May 19 for four days before beginning play May 22. The team will play three games in Poland and two in Berlin and will return May 27. The goals of this tour are to provide a rich cross-cultural experience for each team member and for team members to grow in their personal faith.

"This will give me a good chance to play against some talent overseas," Lodwick said. "I don't know how level the play will be, but it will be fun to go play guys from other countries because I know the style of play will be different. I also think this is the type of thing that will hopefully help me mature in my faith and help me really learn how to talk to people about spiritual things. I think it will help me be able to communicate with people in that way."

"I feel like one of the reasons I'm most excited is because I saw what a difference it made in Daven's (Harmeling) life after he went on one after his freshman year," Cowgill said. "He was almost like a different person when he came back, especially on the court. I'm excited for that for Abe really, because they're really similar. I think it will just be a cool experience to get to know other guys and is a cool opportunity to allow us to grow in our faith together, but also share our faith with people in other parts of the world."

Athletes In Action is a Christian sports organization and is active in 75 countries, on nearly 125 U.S. college campuses, and with 35 U.S. professional sports teams. AIA has approximately 500 staff members. To learn more about Athletes In Action go their website, www.athletesinaction.org.